


Another Set Of Wings

by la_haine_pacifique



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anyways, Gen, I hope you guys like this, One Shot, Songfic, Writing this made me sad, but a good sad!, pain pain pain, some budding hidekane in the air, songs ain't gotta be that sad, the ending is good and happy okay, yo the song i used for this is ridiculously sad why do people do this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 17:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9452939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_haine_pacifique/pseuds/la_haine_pacifique
Summary: Short and sappy HideKane one shot, wherein Kaneki makes a different choice.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hipstasmatic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hipstasmatic/gifts).



He had a choice. He knew he had one the second Hide put his hand on his shoulder. Of course Hide didn’t care that he was more ghoul than person, and had known for quite a time. Of course he didn’t. 

“Let’s just go home already.”

Kaneki’s heart was tearing into pieces. Hide had that pleading look, that one that said “I know there’s things you need but there’s things I need, too” and Kaneki knew - fucking  _ knew  _ it in his bones - that however he chose was going to change every single thing there was between them.

There was pleading in Hide’s eyes, but he still smiled. He was a lot like Hinami in that regard, Kaneki figured.

And there was that pang.

Hinami, Touka, Ayato, Yomo, Nishiki. For those people, for his friends, he had to change things. They needed a better world, one where they didn’t have to be afraid. They deserved it.

Hide did, too. He deserved every single good thing and… and Kaneki couldn’t give him that. He was dangerous and neurotic and a fucking mess and Hide was still there, hand on his shoulder and tears in his eyes like he didn’t care that all above them was death and destruction. Knowing Hide, he probably didn’t.

“I - I want to help,” Hide started. “It doesn’t look like it’ll be easy for just one ghoul to make it out…”

Kaneki knew where this was going. Hide was about to start rambling, probably offer himself up as an honest and willing sacrifice, and all Kaneki could think was that stupid English song Hide liked to play.

_ ~I keep staring at your door from down the hallway _ __  
_ Tonight I couldn't make it to the room _ __  
_ Looking at our pictures on the fireplace _ __  
_ Wishing it was me instead of you _ _  
_ __ It gets harder everyday but I keep on holding on~

He could picture it, him living without Hide, without ever having told him everything that needed to be said. He knew Hide would tell him that they’d be together in spirit, that part of him would live on with Kaneki. He would go out never having known how much he meant to the other. 

_ ~There's an angel looking out for me _ __  
_ Because I ain't well _ __  
_ Though I try to be _ __  
_ I'm dancing all alone _ __  
_ 'Cause I can hear you sing, _ __  
_ I need my angel _ _  
_ __ Like heaven needs another set of wings~

Things would never be the same. There would be no more Hide.

Kaneki looked up at him, sad smile and all, and he could feel the tears starting. They burned at his eyes, pricking along until he was crying.

_ ~Lately I just keep my windows open _ __  
_ Hoping I might feel you in the wind _ __  
_ Time heals all, but somehow i'm still broken _ _  
_ __ 'Cause parts of me ain't ever gonna mend~

He didn’t want it without Hide. The revelation didn’t startle him as much as it really should have. Hide was his best friend. He loved him.

His throat was closing up, holding back sobs that would have them found.

Hide just wrapped him up in his arms, and he got the feeling that Hide was crying, too.

He would miss Hide for forever, probably, if he let him go through with this. If he let Hide sacrifice himself, Kaneki knew he wouldn’t last. He would have what remained of his friends and the family he’d come to know, but there would be no Hide.

There would be no Hide.

Kaneki didn’t want that world - didn’t want to live the rest of his life with that song on constant repeat because that’s how it would go. He loved Hide, and that would haunt him. 

Hide would haunt him, in memory if nothing else, and Kaneki couldn’t. He couldn’t. He needed Hide there beside him.

_ ~There's an angel looking out for me _ __  
_ 'Cause I ain't well _ __  
_ Though I try to be _ __  
_ I'm dancing all alone _ __  
_ 'Cause I can hear you sing, _ __  
_ I need my angel _ _  
_ __ Like heaven needs another set of wings~

Eventually, Kaneki stood. There couldn’t be too much time before there were other investigators in the sewers.

Hide just sat there, looking up at him. “Ken…?”

“Hide,” he said, gently, “Let’s go home.”

The smile he got from Hide was like being blinded by the sun - bright and warm and all consuming. It was a smile that Kaneki always wanted to be able to see. 

He held his hand out, pulling up his friend when he took it. 

“Let’s go home.”

This fight could wait for another day. And maybe the losses on both sides would be terrible, and maybe he could stop it all right then and there, but…

He looked down to where Hide had casually twined their fingers.

Maybe heaven needed another set of wings, but it didn’t have to be this one.


End file.
